21st May 2011 - Bowen

We left Hervey Bay after two nights with our treasured friends, Trish and Terry. Slept in bed number ??? (during the last month). Headed off to Benaraby, rather than Calliope as we had originally planned.


I always love hauling the van up the Bruce Goat-track; it’s hard to find a better example of how to do things wrong. Pot-holes, corrugations, bumps, dips, broken edges – it’s got ‘em all in abundance. The only solution is to drop the speed and curse the trucks that tear it up.

Whenever I’m dragging the van, I am not the fastest person on the road. If we go for an inordinate distance without an overtaking lane, a tail eventually forms behind me. I keep an eye on it, and if it gets (a) too long or, (b) a few vehicles been there for a few kilometres, I find a spot to pull over and let ‘em through. However, some drivers astound me with their failure to bring their brain along on the trip. Here they are, head of the queue and we come to an overtaking lane – it didn’t just “pop up”: there was a sign to say “Overtaking lane 5 km”, another at 2 km, and a final one at 300 metres. Why, oh bloody why, do more than 50% of drivers wait until they are well into the overtaking zone before they pull out and struggle to build up revs, and then just squeak past before the merge zone? And they stuff up all the others too! All I ask is that they drop back a bit, then at the 300 metre sign start building revs so that they hit the overtake zone with sufficient revs and speed to simply move out and toodle past without hindering those behind. End of rant, I feel better now.

Benaraby Caravan Park is on the Bruce Goat track, 20 km from Gladstone and the owner is grinning like the cat that’s got the cream. A huge big new gas pipeline project is starting up there, and there will be hundreds of new jobs, or 100s of jobs lost (depends on which political party you believe). Benaraby park has already purchased 80 new cabins (and has rent or lease contracts in place), and has another 140 on order.

We Left on Wednesday morning to head to St Lawrence which is about halfway between Rocky and Mackay. Stopped at Marlborough for lunch, all was good except that the bloody Bruce Goat Track was having roadworks every time you got into a bit of a rhythm. Watching the odometer and decided that St Lawrence should’ve arrived by then . . . . . pushed on, worried more, spotted a sign showing distance to Sarina, quick calcs ...... some bastard had stolen St Lawrence. By the time that we had confirmed our number crunch, we were at Clairview. Given the time, we had little choice but pull into the Caravan Park. After setting up, we were sitting outside trying to understand how we could lose an entire village – I can understand an item of clothing; a tool; or even a TV remote, but an entire village!?

A couple pulled in beside us and also began the task of setting up – overheard us chatting and came over and explained that they too we supposed to be at St Lawrence. So, who stole St Lawrence – I bags the TV rights to the series of “Australia, you’ve got lost villages”

When we were checking in at Clairview we discovered that the front window cover had come undone and been bent back towards the roof – buggered. Some phone calls established that our best only option is to wait until Cairns to get it fixed. So we now drive along with some big Gaffer Tape band-aids holding the cover in place.

If we thought that Tin Can Bay had big tide variations, Clairview has a 6 metre high to low range (park brochure says its the 2nd largest in the state, but I think that’s a bit suss). Apparently St Lawrence is the only larger tidal range ....... Ah, Ha. That’s what happened. It was high tide when we went past and it was underwater.

Thursday, arrived at Bowen and it is magnificient. The views are awesome. We are parked right on the beach and look out to a crystal clear smooth azure sea. Popped into town to see where they made “Australia”, and got mistaken for Hugh Jackman! This was a new experience for me, since I normally get mixed up with Brad Pitt (I really would like to do a little mixing up with Angelina). Might go for a swim tomorrow, if it’s not too hot.

17th May 2011 - Hervey Bay

It has been quite a while since we updated our blog, and so much has happened.


Firstly, we had just settled into Tin Can Bay when we received a call to say that Shirl’s mum was in hospital and not doing very well. A lot of phone calls later we decided to lockup the van and drive to Sydney. Sadly, we were just leaving Brisbane when we received the terrible news that Venessa had passed away – the journey south was a very sombre trip indeed.

The anguish and heartache that one feels at times like this, is not lessened when you need to undertake all the logistics and make all the decisions that the ‘system’ asks. Each phone call to let someone know the bad news, invokes a new round of tears and deep sorrow. By the time of the funeral, you are just wrung out beyond comprehension, but you need to push on. From previous experience, both Shirl and I know that it will take a very long time for the emotions to return to some semblance of normal.

Monkey Mia in West Oz has the reputation as Australia’s prime dolphin feeding location. However, there are a number of other locations that are as good as, if not better. Tin Can Bay has a pod of very rare estuary dolphins. These guys live their entire life within the shallow waters of a bay or estuary and never venture out to sea. Unlike other types, these have pods of only 8 to 10 (rather than the 50 or so of sea going dolphins), and don’t reach full growth until after 45 years. By this time the males are 200 kg.

It is a good thing that the dolphins here like shallow water because when the tide goes out, you need to walk a loooonnngg way to reach the water. The entire ‘Great Sandy Straight’ really lives up to the name.

During the first drive from Brisbane to Tin Can Bay, I pinched a nerve in my neck. Initially, I thought it would just go away (typical male, says Shirl), but it stayed with me all the way to Sydney. Found a remedial masseuse and told him my troubles – he was quite happy to do a massage, but offered a new “Dry Needle Therapy” option. Needles similar to those used in acupuncture are inserted into the pain area, and tapped, wiggled, twisted etc, until your muscles twitch 3 times – this is repeated in multiple locations around the area. Amazing: the pain relief is immediate. 90% improvement! All done in 10 minutes. Had a second treatment (security blanket) on the afternoon before we left Sydney.

The day after we first arrived in Tin Can Bay, we did the 35km trip across to Rainbow Beach. Very trendy and like a mini (tiny) Noosa with a real surf focus. From the end of the very short main street, you look down a 50 foot (15 metre) embankment to the beach. Clearly the thought of climbing back up the stair is too great for many folk to contemplate, as the beach is littered with 4x4’s parked every which way as their owners swim and sunbake: looks odd.

Just to the north of Rainbow Beach is the 12 km long Inskip Point which is completely sand, with a covering of coastal trees and shrubs, and chock-A-block with campers. Everywhere you look there is either a tent or a lightweight van and a 4x4. At the end of the point is a beach where a shuttle ferry moves vehicles across the very short stretch to the bottom of Fraser Island.

Upon returning to Tin Can after our Sydney trip, we found we had a new neighbour: Conrad and his “Beaut Big Bus”. He has been travelling for over 15 years, the last 5 in this amazing machine. Over 1000 Watts of solar panels: 3000 ampere hours of battery (and all this @ 24volts). Takes 450 litres of diesel to fill the tank(s). The top floor is all living space, with storage underneath. I know folks who have apartments smaller than this beast. He uses 3 cameras and 5 mirrors to see everything from the driver’s seat.

When reversing the van into our site, we had noticed a whine coming from Tom Cruiser’s engine bay – sounded like a slipping fan belt. Looked, tested, couldn’t find anything. Drove to Sydney and back, and on Saturday it started to screeeeeeetch. Too dark to see anything. Sunday morning, planned to be setting off for Hervey Bay. Changed top fan belt, still screeeeeetched: bugger! The bloke from the next door van joined me for a look, and after a lot of looking, we found that one of the two lower belts was completely gone! Bloody Sunday morning, in a small coastal town, and no spare belt: double bugger!

Amazing, my good neighbour, Bob, did a walk around the park to all the guys he knew that had Land Cruisers and came up with a pair of spares........ Bob is now my official hero.

Does anyone realise just how hard it is to change the two lower belts on a Land Cruiser? Hands and arm were not designed to bend in the required directions: knuckles are not covered with an impermeable and non penetrable armour. Why is it that no two nuts are ever the same size – you just twist, juggle and wind your hand into where the bolt / nut is, and after what seems like hours of blindly trying to get the #$&*@# spanner onto it, you find it is a different size than all the others!!!!

Eventually it was finished and Tom Cruiser was running like a new one. Hitch up, do the walk around and check, and off we go to Hervey Bay.